


Is There Something More?

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Category: Farscape
Genre: Episode Related, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-20
Updated: 2010-09-20
Packaged: 2017-10-12 01:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/119312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Crais isn't entirely convinced this whole death thing is real.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Is There Something More?

"Took you long enough to get here."

Crais turned on his heel, raising an eyebrow at the man who stood behind him. "Crichton. What are you talking about?"

Crichton grinned, waving his arms to encompass everything around them. "You've been dead. And you and Talyn took your own sweet time getting here. I've been waiting for you guys to get here ever since you blew up the command carrier. I mean, I know you don't exactly believe in life after death, but come on!"

"Where, exactly, is here?" Crais clasped his hands behind his back, his mind racing. Either he was hallucinating, or Crichton was out of his mind. He and Talyn couldn't have died. That had merely been a ruse to keep the others from trying to find them later.

"Another plane of existence." Crichton sighed, running one hand through his hair. "Look, I know you didn't think it'd actually kill Talyn to starburst out of that hanger, and you just told Aeryn and the other me that to keep them from finding you later. But you miscalculated the power ratio."

Crais' eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"Hello, Captain Crunch!" Crichton rolled his eyes, spreading his arms wide. "Don't you recognize me? Crichton, the bane of your previous existence?"

"Either you are a hallucination while I am injured and delirious, or you are not what you appear."

"Seriously, Bialar. You're dead. I'm not a hallucination, and I sure as hell am what I appear to be. Commander John Crichton. Astronaut. Human. Dead. Well, the other me isn't dead, but he'll get here eventually. Before the rest of them anyway." Crichton sighed when Crais continued to regard him with disbelief.

"Look, Crais, my man, let me show you something." He moved past Crais, ignoring the Sebacian's narrowed eyes, and passed a hand over the main view port. There was an image of the interior of Moya, in one of the cells that had been converted into living quarters. Aeryn was cradling the other Crichton's head in her lap, and beside her was an infant, sleeping peacefully.

"The baby's D'Argo. Little D." Crichton grinned, reaching out to gentle place the end of his finger on the boy's nose, his hand passing through the view screen. "He can see me when I ghost like this. If he's awake. But most of the rest of them can't. Except that creepy old woman with the psychedelic drugs."

Crais shivered, reaching out his mind to Talyn.

~I'm fine, Bialar.~ Talyn sounded curious. ~It tickles a little, but it doesn't hurt.~

Crais felt a chill run down his spine, and he stiffened, trying to push the thought that maybe Crichton was right out of his mind.

"I am hallucinating."

Crichton sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, Crais, you're not hallucinating, I'm not a figment of your imagination, I'm really John Crichton, and you really are dead. D-E-A-D. Dead." He met Crais' gaze with annoyance in his pale blue eyes. "Though, really, I should say you're on a new plane of existence. Something higher."

Crais raised a skeptical eyebrow, and Crichton groaned, letting his head drop back against one of Talyn's ribs with a thump.

"Damnit, Crais, you're not making this easy." He sighed, and pushed off the wall, stalking over to Crais. "Come on. Let me show you something else." He grabbed Crais by the shoulder, and in the blink of an eye, they were elsewhere.

The farm was very familiar to Crais. It had been cycles since he'd last seen it, but he still remembered it well. His face went pale as he took in the orchards, the fields, and the old, sturdy farmhouse. And the prowler that looked incongruous sitting behind the house.

"There's someone here who'd like to see you. I'll go catch up with Talyn while you two talk." Crichton vanished, and Crais took a deep breath. If he was hallucinating and delirious, he might as well cooperate with the dream.

Inside the farmhouse, it was cool and dim, and Crais took a moment to let his eyes adjust. The main room was just as he remembered it, with the worn, and well-cared for chairs, the well-scrubbed wooden floor, and the arch that led to a hallway to the back of the house.

~ ~~ ~

"You're late, brother." Tuavo was sitting in one of the chairs, watching Bialar as he stared around the room. "I thought you'd come home sooner."

"Tuavo?" Bialar looked confused, and he stared at Tuavo as if he hadn't expected him to be there. "You're dead," he added flatly after a moment, regaining control over his expression.

Tuavo nodded. "I know. And so are you." He stood, beckoning Bialar to follow him towards the back. "Come on. Let's go flying. We'll take the long way to get back to Talyn."

"How did you know his name?" Bialar's footsteps were firm and measured as he followed Tuavo.

Tuavo shrugged. "You have all the time in the world to learn things when you're dead. I've been watching you." He shrugged, pushing open the back door of the farmhouse. "You've done good for yourself. Better after I died than when I was alive." He met Bialar's eyes as he paused at the ladder up to the prowler's cockpit.

"I like the brother I watched guide a young Leviathan better than I like the brother I remember from after we were conscripted. Even if you did remember father's imperative that we watch out for each other, you didn't become what we should have had the chance to be until I was dead, and you had the chance to leave the Peacekeepers."

Bialar was silent for a long moment. "This is not a fever-dream," he finally said quietly.

"No. It's not," Tuavo replied sadly.

Bialar smiled slightly, though there was a bitterness in the expression, and he waved his brother up the ladder. "I believe we were going to fly to where Talyn is in this.. plane of existence?"

Tuavo returned the smile, and climbed up into his prowler. "Get in. It's good to be able to interact with you again, Bialar. And I want to finally set foot on this gunship of yours."

Bialar settled in behind his brother, and they fell into a companionable silence as they came off the planet, into a space that wasn't the velvet black of space in normal reality. Here there appeared to be a mist between the stars, a luminous webbing that was both there and not there at the same time.

"What is that?" Bialar frowned, reaching out to Talyn to find out if he was sensing anything.

"Energy of some sort. No one is sure exactly what it is, only that it doesn't hurt us, and it doesn't hinder us." Tuavo shrugged, flying the prowler through the mist. "Crichton has been speculating it's the partial manifestation of some deity, on a yet higher plane of existence. Or the partial manifestation of people like the Stykera, who aren't actually completely on one plane of existence."

Bialar remained silent for a moment. "How long have I been... traveling?" He still didn't believe he was dead. No matter what plane of existence he was on, he couldn't be dead. In fact, if he was on another plane of existence, he had to be very much alive. Or else the word 'dead' contradicted itself, and was meaningless.

"We noticed you were... no longer on the previous plane of existence about a cycle ago, give or take a few weekens. But how long we've noticed doesn't matter, Bialar. For you, it probably felt almost instantaneous." Tuavo looked back over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow in imitation of his brother. "Wasn't it?"

Bialar nodded, his eyes focused on Talyn as they made their approach. There were places he was misty, like the strange luminescence around them, but he was mostly solid. He set his jaw, his eyes narrowing slightly. Why would Talyn not be fully manifested, if he was?

"That's strange." Tuavo brought the prowler in towards the more solid hanger. "And that shouldn't be happening. There's only a few beings that can't manifest here, and I know a Leviathan isn't one of them. Talyn should be no different."

~ ~~ ~

~Unless we're not supposed to be here.~ Talyn sounded cross. ~Crichton has already been theorizing. I don't care where we're supposed to be, Bialar, I just want to be someplace! Not more than one place.~

Bialar made a soothing noise as he made his way towards command, ignoring the snicker from Tuavo. ~Calm, Talyn. No matter what is happening, we are alive, and that is what is important right now.~

There was a sense of agreement from the gunship, and Bialar smiled grimly, stalking into command to glare at Crichton.

"You were always a sign of trouble, Crichton, even when you were not the cause." He cut off the human's attempt to protest. "Do not try deny it. You know the truth as well as I do." He clasped his hands behind his back as he stood in the center of command. "Tuavo, keep the human quiet, and out of my way."

"Yes, sir." The reply to the command was crisp and automatic, just as it had been the last time he'd seen his brother before the accident which brought Crichton to his part of the universe, and made him the bane of his existence.

~Talyn. We are alive. And you are as whole as you are going to be here. Has the... translucency effected your ability to starburst?~

~I don't think so.~ There was a moment of silence before Talyn spoke again. ~But where would we go? I don't like it here.~

~We return to where we entered starburst previously. With the same power ratio.~

Talyn sent him a burst of color and sound that made his opinion of this maneuver clear, and Crais raised an eyebrow.

~Do you have a better idea? We either remain here, where you are not whole, or we try this.~

~We could end up really dead this time!~

~And if we do, it would be better than a half-life.~ Bialar's face creased with a frown. ~We would be unaware of what happened. Unable to care.~

Talyn digested that a moment, and Bialar got a sense of agreement. He smiled, and turned to his passengers.

"Prepare for immediate starburst."

They didn't have a chance to protest before the light engulfed them, and pain screamed along nerves no longer ready for it to plunge all of them into unconsciousness.


End file.
